Tony Morgan is a young leader with some great ideas. (You really need to follow his blog.) He recently posted The Right Task vs. The Right Person. Tony carefully outlines the difference between hiring someone to accomplish a specific task rather than a strategic goal. The most important thing he brings to light is the end result you achieve when you focus on a task instead of a strategic goal.

A task is a specific action that produces a time-tested response. We know this because tasks are predictable.

A strategic goal is more of an idea, a new reality. It is much less defined and forces the individual to rely on a combination of knowledge, experience, and intuition.

I think the tragedy of task-driven organizations is much deeper and broader than can be found in hiring practices alone. Organizations that attempt to eliminate risk stop creating and start producing. It’s a subtle shift that takes place over time. Most people within the organization never know anything has changed. Most people outside the organization can spot this change from miles away.

I’ve always lived with a sense that I could do better and achieve more than what I was doing or had achieved at any given time. It is one of the main reasons I believe that created the opportunity to step out of corporate life and start a non-profit organization during the peak of my career.

I have worked hard to build a focus on strategic goals rather than tasks in many different ways. For example, I have banned yellow notes from our offices. (I find contraband every now and then.) Yellow notes do nothing other than cost me money and delay action. I don’t want to be so focused on tasks that I miss creating the reality embodied by a particular strategic goal.

At Soles4Souls:

We don’t use yellow notes. (If something needs to be done, we do it!)
We always stop to talk to or interact with a donor. (They are the reason we are here.)
We never transfer someone to voice mail. (People want to talk to people.)

Task-driven organizations are about building to spec. Strategic goal-driven organizations are about creating something new, unique, and custom. Guess which one makes a lasting impression (and a measurable difference)?

Are you leading an organization that values tasks or strategic goals?